With their beautiful plumage, charismatic call and fussy eating habit the Glossy Black-Cockatoo (Vulnerable, EPBC Act 1999) is one of a kind. When you are out walking don’t confuse the Glossies with other Black-Cockatoos. Glossies are the smallest Black-Cockatoo while the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo is the biggest. The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is bigger than the Glossies but smaller than the Yellow-tails. Male Glossies have full red tail panels and brownish-black plumage. Females have yellow feathers on their heads which is unique to every female. They have Red to yellow tail panels with black barring throughout.
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Male Red-tails have full red tail panels and black plumage.
Females have yellow markings all over their head and body. They have orange to yellow tail panels with black barring throughout.
Yellow-tails have yellow tails and yellow cheek patches. The male has a Red eye ring and the female a grey.
Red and Yellow-tails are very noisy and gather in flocks. Glossies generally do not.
The Glossies are one of the fussiest eaters in the bird world, only feeding on the seeds from She-oak trees (Allocasuarina & Casuarina). They are even fussy about which tree they feed from and will come back year after year. Glossies are very quiet and secretive birds. Listen out for the cracking of she-oak-cones and the quiet pit-a-pat as they hit the ground. You may find orts under their favoured feed trees which are the remains of the cone once the Glossies have finished feeding.
Please report your sightings of Black-Cockatoos below. It is really important to know where they are.
